


Purple Ombré Mini Cakes

by patriciaselina



Category: Free!
Genre: Birthday Cake, Birthday Fluff, Birthday Party, Gen, HAPPY BIRTHDAY REI-CHAN!!, Introspective Angst, Nagisa dresses like a piece of cotton candy, Rei-chan stop angsting pls, Rin just cannot get a break, Surprises
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-13
Updated: 2013-12-13
Packaged: 2018-01-04 11:51:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1080681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/patriciaselina/pseuds/patriciaselina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ombré, adj., having colors or tones that shade into each other —used especially of fabrics in which the color is graduated from light to dark. It’s the first birthday Rei has where he has the privilege of not being alone, and it would be splendid if they actually remembered it. First-person one-shot for Rei's birthday, 12/14.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Purple Ombré Mini Cakes

**Author's Note:**

> Fluffy Rei-chan birthday fic, because it needed to be done. Also my first time writing wholly within the Free! canon, so I hope you like it!

None of them is acting out of the ordinary.

See, if I were Makoto- _senpai_ , that's what would have ticked me off that there’s something going on - the Iwatobi Swim Club happens to be populated by _lousy_ liars. Myself included, though it pains me to admit.

Last November, Haruka- _senpai_ had gone the easy way and had just skipped class entirely - I had not, and neither did Nagisa, or Gou, so for us, November the seventeenth was a _treacherous_ day of making ungainly sounds and going elsewhere. Between the class work and the surprise party logistics, it was a _horrible_ day to maneuver. The kicked-puppy look Makoto- _senpai_ had on as we fled made me feel even worse.

But it had been all worth it, all worth a day of sudden escapes from Makoto- _senpai_ and heated discussions with Rin-san - for a man with a passable butterfly stroke, he has seriously got to learn about a little something called _good taste_ \- it had been worth it in the end, because the smile on Makoto- _senpai_ 's face had enough happiness in it to save the world, twice over.

So yes, I should probably be content with that. The old adage does say “ _it is better to give than to receive,_ ” after all...

But, blast it all, today is _Friday_ , the thirteenth of December. Tomorrow will be the first December 14th that I shall be spending with the knowledge that I have friends – actual, living, sentient friends, more-than-acquaintances friends, friends who invite themselves to my apartment and sleep all over my homework...

Okay, so maybe that definition just applies to _Nagisa_. But _still_! I have friends now, I know I should really stop acting so surprised about that but I am, I really am. So _excuse_ _me_ for hoping that I'd be spending tomorrow differently from my usual way - that is, with a phone call from home and an unhealthy serving of pancakes for breakfast.

Speaking of breakfast…I wonder if I still have maple syrup at home...if not, should I get corn syrup instead? But are the calories really worth the splurge?

“Hey, hey, Rei-chan!” Nagisa cries, crashing into my side as always. I'm used to it, so it's not surprising at all, but it doesn't mean it doesn't hurt anymore. Nagisa really is stronger than he thinks he is. “Where are you off to?”

It's the same question he asks me every day, after class - “ _Where are you off to?_ ”, as if I ever went anywhere else but home, if only he could stop dragging me to the _conbini_ to solicit ice cream from me. Nagisa's perfectly in-character - not a shifty glance or missed syllable whatsoever. Maybe he really _has_ forgotten.

I sigh, pushing up my glasses, swallowing down something that may or may not be _disappointment_. “Home, as per usual. It's cold out - we're _obviously_ not going to be able to practice. You?”

“Umm - I'm actually _not_ gonna be going home yet, Rei-chan.” Nagisa replies, glumly, and for once he actually does look like he's sorry. “I'm staying over at Makoto's for the night - you know, we've got stuff we need to...mm, study.”

I raise an eyebrow at that.

It’s not that I'm claiming full ownership over Nagisa's academic pursuits or anything, but if there's someone he ought to be hounding about his academics it's got to be _me_...ahh, I mean, Makoto- _senpai_ 's got enough on his plate already, without him adding to the mix!

“Huh. Fine.” I say, pushing my glasses up with one hand. “Would you and Makoto- _senpai_ be needing my help?”

“No, no, Rei-chan, we're all good.” Nagisa replies, fixing me with another one of his silly smiles. He looks _genuinely_ happy. “See you?”

“See you.” I say, smiling feebly, as my - as my _best friend_ walks away without so much as a look back.

So much for a happy birthday.

Maybe I'll pick up a bunch of blueberries when I get home - I think I'll be needing a little morale boost.

Okay, that was a lie, I mentally append, seeing Nagisa catch up to Makoto- _senpai_ , laughing over...something. Make that a _lot_ of morale boosts. A quart of frozen yogurt.

Or _ten_.

* * *

 

“Rei-chan, _Rei-chan_.”

“It's _three o' clock in the morning_ , Nagisa-kun.” I say, groaning. I prefer to call myself a morning person, but - but today, not so much.

In a testament to just how sappy friendships have turned me into, I had found myself waiting on my cell like a lovelorn heroine, remembering that people usually called or texted their friends on the first few hours of their special days. When an hour had already passed and nobody had said anything - even Nagisa, whose name had been highlighted by a bright green circle on Facebook, as he played another one of his inane games - sometime after that, I must have fell asleep like this, face smushed against the bed.

I move myself to a sitting position, and wince. I can still feel where the frames of my glasses dug into my skin.

“Sorry, Rei-chan.” Nagisa says, tone of voice feeble; he's probably scratching the back of his neck again, like he usually does when he’s nervous. “But I need to ask you a favor, is that okay?”

“You should've just _texted_ ,” I grunt, thinning my lips. _Coffee_. If only I had it in hand, I'd be fixing myself a great helping of it by now. “Some people _sleep_ at these hours, you know.”

“Yeah, that's my bad.” Nagisa says. From the other side of the line, I can hear Makoto- _senpai_ chuckle. An odd, uncertain feeling curls up and wraps itself over my chest, my lungs - I breathe in the hopes of loosening its grip. Nagisa doesn't seem to notice my sharp intake of breath, for he just continues on, in a voice quieter than his usual: “I just wanted to call you.”

“But _why_?” I snap.

I really don't mean to sound so suspicious, I _really_ don't.

“Well...I just wanted to hear your voice, is all.” Nagisa replies, almost petulant, and I can bet good money he's pouting right now, his lower lip jutting out and bright eyes widening.

It's a pout that can win him the world, and I am terribly grateful that we aren’t physically together right now, for that means he doesn't see that the mere thought of his pout is especially effective against _me_ , as well. I don’t have to look into a mirror to feel the small smile forming on my face, the raging annoyance removed from my psyche.

“You can always just call me tomorrow – I mean, later.” I say, sighing. “Unless –“ I gulp, sheer liquid hope bubbling in my chest, making my heart pound irrationally, “ – unless you had something you wanted to tell me?”

I left my intentions very vague, but there’s only one specific _something_ I have in mind. Surely he hasn’t _really_ forgotten?

“Oh, right, the favor!” Nagisa says, tone of voice bright and cheerful as ever. “D’you have a cookie cutter?”

I raise an eyebrow, caught off-guard. “Cookie cutter?”

“A big, round one – hey, Mako-chan, what size did ya need again?”

From the other end of the line I can hear Makoto- _senpai_ mumble something that sounded vaguely like “You can’t _seriously_ be inconveniencing Rei, _Nagisa_ –“, as well as Haruka- _senpai_ ’s usual deadpan talking over the rest of his sentence, saying “Two-point-five inches.”

“Yeah, a cookie cutter, one that’s shaped like a circle, two-point-five inches wide. D’you have one, Rei-chan?”

“I’ll see if I’ve got one,” I say. “Is that all?”

“Yes and no…hey, Rei-chan, can you come over tomorrow?”

“Why?”

“Because…well, we have to prepare for the class Christmas party, of course!” Nagisa replies, and I know I should stop fixating so much about this because I am _a grown man for crying out loud_ , but…but my best friend remembers a party he said he wasn’t interested in going to, and yet he still forgets my birthday. _Ouch_.

“Okay, I’ll come over to help.” I say, and suck in another deep breath.

I should stop being so dramatic, but I’m saying this because it’s true – as I breathe in deeply, I can _literally_ feel the bitterness seeping through into the very tips of my alveoli.

* * *

 

A few hours of fitful, erratic sleep, and a train ride later, I find myself in front of the Nanase residence with my cookie cutters and a frown. Why had Nagisa been so insistent on the circle cookie cutters, when the snowflake-shaped ones were _obviously_ the prettier ones?

As I ponder on this decision of his – maybe the reason why Nagisa likes circular cookies is because they have a larger surface area, with no holes to lose volume to? – someone bumps into me. As in, _literally_ bumps into me.

“Holy _shit_ ,” The other guy curses. “ _You’re_ here.”

I stand up, dust off my clothes. I have something I want to say to that – something childish like _of course I’m here, Japan’s a free country, I can be anywhere I want to be_ – but I look at the newcomer a bit closely, and, well. Irises that reddish-tinged aren’t that common.

“ _Rin-san_??”

“I knew those guys were never gonna get finished, heaven help us all.” Rin says, shaking his head and looking mildly – disappointed. “Hey, Speedo Glasses, you wanna beat some stuff up with me?”

“First up, no matter how rude they may seem, violence is not an option.”

“Aw, c’mon, that’s not I was talking about.” Rin drawls, holding up the hefty paper bag in his hands. Said bag offers no clues as to its contents – it’s a generic, nondescript cream color. “I’ve got some cream cheese and stuff here, on your guy’s orders. You wanna go and put those deltoids my sis _literally cannot_ stop talking about to good use, hmm?”

Heaven preserve me, Rin actually goes and pinches said deltoid. Honest-to-goodness _pinches_ it. I try very hard not to think of the phrase “ _it runs in the family”_ , because if I dwell on this too much I just might pass out. That leaves me dwelling on another thing, however. “Sorry  -‘ _my guy_ ’?”

Rin raises an eyebrow, as if it was common knowledge to refer to whoever he had been referring to with _that_ possessive pronoun. “Nagisa?”

“Nagisa-kun isn’t _mine_ ,” I say, and against my will – against my _bloody_ will! – my lips press together in some kind of twisted scowl. Rin sees the look on my face, and he’s biting his lips like it’s the only thing he can do that _won’t_ make him collapse in peals of laughter.

“Fine. You – you keep telling yourself that, bro.” Rin lets out behind clenched teeth, eyes filled with so much _mirth_ at my…presumed embarrassment?...that it makes me want to throttle him. Not so much. Just a little bit. “In the meantime, though, I wanna get Nagisa _off_ my case, fast, so I guess it’s best we get to work.”

“All right,” I say, and follow Rin into the foyer. I’ve just yanked off my second shoe and indiscreetly made an inventory of its companions – Haruka- _senpai’_ s shoes, of course, and Rin’s trainers, Makoto- _senpai_ ’s loafers, and a pair of rubber shoes so pastel and _adorable_ they could belong to no one else but Nagisa – when Rin suddenly hauls me half-upright, and I can only see a vague image of Nagisa’s startled eyes before Rin claps a hand over my glasses.

Rin growls and mutters unprintable things as his hand still goes about blocking my vision.  “ – damn it, you guys, you _told_ me you were gonna be in the kitchen –”

“You and Rei can work in the kitchen, you’re the ones who need the counter.” Haruka- _senpai_ deadpans. “Hurry up.”

“Will do, Haruka- _senpai_ , only – ” I stop, try to wrench Rin’s hand from my line of sight. It doesn’t work. “Rin-san, please drop your hand.”

“…can’t even if I wanted to, Speedo Glasses.” Rin says, in a single breath. He sounds _flustered_ , which is an emotion I’ve never associated with him before. “Haru’s…Haru’s flirting with public indecency.”

“I’ve seen him do chores in his swimsuit _all the time_ , Rin-san.” I say, sighing. “And it’s not _public_ when it’s _his_ house.”

“It’s public when there are people around who don’t wanna see _that_ , yanno.” Rin  half-growls, pulling me by the hand. “And – and he’s _not_ wearing a swimsuit.”

Haruka- _senpai_ grunts. I don’t know if Rin is telling the truth or not – Nagisa seems to have decomposed into breathless giggles, and Makoto- _senpai_ is sighing – but either way seems to be a likely situation. Rin had said something about getting Nagisa off his case by getting…whatever job we have to do, done, earlier, so I let myself be pulled away from the living room.

Rin slams the sliding door shut, huffs once, and finally – _finally!_ – lets go of me. “Putting all that aside for now. Where the _hell_ are Haru's mixing bowls?”

* * *

 

We’re in the middle of adding heavy cream when my mouth betrays me and decides to let it out.

“I was really jealous of you, you know.”

“Oh?” Rin says, genuinely startled, as he rinses sugar out of his hair. Apparently the concept of _gradually_ increasing beating speed was a foreign concept to him. “How so?”

“It’s obvious, really. Because you’re their childhood friend, and I’m just this…this new guy.”

“‘ _This New Guy’_. I like that. It makes you sound like a bad sitcom.” Rin smirks, raising an eyebrow.

“ _As I was saying_ ,” I say, not liking to talk about this thought any more than I have to but stubbornly deciding to see it through the end anyway. “You’ve got a lot of memories with them that I don’t share and won’t ever understand. So I guess that’s why I blew up at you back then. I realize I never apologized for that.”

“No, don’t. You don’t have to be sorry for that, okay?” Rin says, back turned as he starts another batch of butter and cream cheese. “Past me was a _jerk_. Mako _was_ right to throw me his ‘ _I’m not mad, just disappointed’_ face – I just needed a push in the right direction. And you, mister, are quite good at giving pushes.”

It’s a ridiculous thing to be blushing over, but – blast it all, guess that’s exactly what I’m doing. “ _You’re welcome_ for that, by the way.”

“ _Thank you_ ,” Rin groans, back still turned from me. “You’re a big believer on reaping what you sow, aren’t you?”

“More like a believer in reciprocal relationships.” I say. My cream cheese-butter-sugar mix is now a bowl of fluffy white. It’s a thing of beauty, if I may say so myself, one that reminds me of clouds. “Where do I put this?”

“Chuck it in the freezer; those guys will come in to get it when they need it.” Rin says.

“Maybe it would be more helpful if I were to go and give it to them –”

Rin turns to me, once, with a horrified expression on his face. “ _No._ ” he says, eyes wide. “Just _don’t_.”

“Rin-san, this is ridiculous.” I sniff. “I’m in the same swim team as Haruka- _senpai_ , and we only have one changing room. It won’t be anything we haven’t seen before.”

“Just…the lighting is _terrible_.” Rin says, and for some reason I can’t help but think he’s grasping for straws. “He looks horrifying. You better be glad I didn’t let you see him.”

As I am about to ask why Rin _kept looking_ even as he recognized the sight wasn’t beautiful, Nagisa enters then, cheery as per the usual. “What were you guys talking about?”

“Nagisa-kun,” I say, ignoring how Rin raises an eyebrow at my voice shifting…into a fonder tone, I must admit. I’ll deal with him later. “Is Haruka- _senpai really_ nude and horrifying right now, just like what Rin-san said?”

Nagisa has a look on his face that says he is milliseconds away from exploding into a laughing fit, but his attempts at nonchalance are inspiring to watch. “– nude _and_ horrifying? Pfft – yeah, yeah, Haru-chan doesn’t have his jammers on, and it’s not a beautiful sight.”

“That’s a bit hypocritical of you, isn’t it?” Rin smirks. “Mister ‘ _I Can Swim_ ’?”

I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean, but Nagisa flushes beet red. “That was a long time ago, okay?”

“Long time ago, pshaw. You pulled that stunt just a few months ago.”

“Well, if you _must_ know,” Nagisa says, tone of voice haughty and petulant, “It was a long time ago, because I didn’t know Rei-chan by then, okay? It was a whole other era ago, if you ask me.”

Nagisa’s arms are wrapped around my neck, and I’m about to spout off one of my standard responses about being careful and being way too heavy but I’m too busy thinking about the situation to care – my best friend is _here_ , and he doesn’t remember my birthday still but he’s here and he’s _hugging_ me.

“Told you he was _your_ guy,” Rin says, before smirking and turning back to his forgotten mixing bowl. “Work on the fondant next, huh, Speedo?”

“Fine.” I say, still struggling with my burning cheeks and with having a grown man hanging off my neck. “Nagisa-kun, please let go of me.”

“Boo, Rei-chan, you’re no fun.” Nagisa sing-songs as his hands linger a bit longer at my nape than I would have liked. “Where’s the cookie cutter, by the way?”

“It’s in my bag, in the smaller pocket.” I say, jerking my head towards its general direction. “There’s also a butterfly-shaped one and a snowflake-shaped one, if you need them.”

“Rei-chan must’ve been a Boy Scout, hmm, you’re always prepared!” Nagisa says, bright and sunny as ever as he rifles through my belongings. Cookie cutters taken, he trots over to me and takes my hand, pressing the butterfly-shaped one to it. “I really only need the circle ones, but maybe you can use this for the fondant?”

“Now that I think of it, this does sound better fitted for fondant cut-outs.” I say, smiling. “What is this for, anyway? The Christmas party?”

“Oh, this, well…” Nagisa looks away from me all of a sudden, as if he’s hiding something. “…I guess you’ll just have to see for yourself.”

* * *

 

Looking back at it, I guess I really should’ve put more thought in Nagisa’s intentionally vague wording – he had been _so_ obvious – but I didn’t, only pressed the cookie cutter into fondant, mechanically making a fleet of butterflies as Rin still – _still_ – fussed over that first botched attempt that frosting.

“I’ve done a lot of things,” Rin grunts, struggling with the whisk. “I’ve gone to Australia, learnt English. I’ve beat water-obsessed freestyle swimmers. So _why_ can I not do this one thing?”

“Some things, you have to do with care, Rin-san.” I say, daintily plucking off another butterfly to sit in the valley of folded cardstock. I dare say the butterflies look _beautiful_. “You’re not exactly the most careful of people.”

“So says the guy who let his goggles slip off during prefecturals.”

“Please don’t rub it in.” I sigh.

“Yeah, I won’t – if I remember correctly, Phelps got his goggles filled up with water during the London Olympics, too. In almost the same event as you were, even – 200 meter butterfly.”

I don’t remember watching that video. Or if I did, I must have been so out of it I didn’t even notice. Probably yelling at Nagisa to stop sleeping and start doing his homework? “He _didn’t_.”

“Oh, yes he _did_.” Rin says, waving a frosting-topped whisk at me. “He still managed to place, though. That guy’s amazing.”

I hum idly, pondering over that, and we fall back into a silence that’s almost _comfortable_ , before Rin speaks up again.

“We’re on the same terms, though.” Rin starts, looking back at me. “You were already friends with Haru and the others by the time he had his last birthday, right?”

I remember – Haruka- _senpai_ ’s birthday – the sand cake and the seventeen firecracker candles. _Please check the water like a water sommelier,_ I had said. Between that, the hypothetical sand mackerel, and Shimashima-chan, it was a very silly day. “Yes. Why do you ask?”

“It’s been a real whirlwind of months for you, huh.” Rin says, rather cryptically. “You forget, though – I only knew them for a few months, too. Then I spent a few years marinating in my own self-pity. Not the best way to spend one’s childhood, by the way – 0/10, I won’t recommend it to anyone.”

“Duly noted.”

“So you don’t have anything to be jealous about, okay? We’re on the same level here.” Rin says. “Between you and me, though – those guys seriously need to have people looking after them. Would you be fine with that?”

“Rin-san, you forget – I consider myself in a friendship with _Nagisa-kun_. I think I’ve already had enough experience fussing over people.”

“That’s that, then.” Rin says, grinning at me.

We’re looking at each other so intently, so _happily_ , and we don’t even notice that the frosting’s gone until Nagisa calls out for us.

“Rei-chan, Rin-chan!” Nagisa cries from behind the sliding doors. “Put the butterflies in the fridge and come out here – you have _got_ to see this!”

* * *

 

As we slide the kitchen door open, we’re greeted by an assault of confetti.

Wait – _I’m_ the one who’s being assaulted by confetti, Rin’s picking some up and throwing them at my face, merrily, as he grins like a blasted fox. What is going on, here?

“Happy birthday, Rei!” they say in unison – Nagisa’s insisting usage of the ‘-chan’ suffix making their harmony just that least bit imperfect – and my heart skips.

“You guys…” _You remembered?_

I didn’t say that last bit out loud, but Nagisa answers that question anyway, as he pulls me to the table. “Of course we did, Rei-chan! We just had to step up our game, you know, because you’re smarter than all of us _combined_ and surprising you was definitely gonna be a challenge.”

“Hey, _I_ take offense at that, Nagisa.” Rin says, jostling Haruka- _senpai_ – who is wearing his usual apron and definitely _isn’t_ nude – for a place at the table. Makoto- _senpai_ looks at them as they both growl like feuding little children, and sighs. Rin looks away and carries on talking. “I’m sort of an honors student too, if you must know.”

“Well, Rei-chan calculates entry angles and allows for water viscosity. _Mentally_. _Spontaneously_.” Nagisa says as he latches onto my arm, sounding for all the world like a proud parent.

I look around, in awe of my surroundings. It’s the same venue as per usual – it’s Haruka- _senpai_ ’s house, nothing new there, and they did reuse some of the same decorations we worked over for Makoto- _senpai_ ’s birthday – _orca shark dolphin penguin_ – but, as I look further upward, I see more butterflies than we had originally cut out, all of them in stunning shades of purple. Right up there at the top is another banner with calligraphy so precise it can only be Gou’s – _Rei-kun birth celebration_.

“I keep telling that girl that ‘birth celebration’ is too formal, she never did listen to me.”

“Hey, big brother, ‘birth celebration’ looks more elegant, okay? I think Rei-kun would like elegance better.” Gou says, and I almost choke up, irrational as it may seem, because I _do_ prefer elegance, I really do, and they _remembered it._

“Aren’t you being a bit bitter, Rin?” Haruka- _senpai_ says. “Because, unlike Kou’s, _your_ own handwriting is horrible?”

“What the – you little – it’s not as horrible as your face!”

“ _Boys,_ do settle down.” Makoto- _senpai_ sighs. It’s a wonder he hasn’t spontaneously combusted from the stress of keeping those two apart, by now. “Rei, would you like to blow the candles?”

“Candles? But where’s the cake – _oh_.” I’ve been looking _around_ the table too much, that I haven’t put too much thought to what I would have seen _on_ the table. “ _Oh._ ”

The cake – _cakes_ , there are six of them and they are all so beautiful, all so very beautiful. There are two candles over the one that seems to be double the size of the other five – spelling out the number sixteen, in a darker purple. The layers have their tops frosted with the exact same frosting I had been working over in the kitchen – the same frosting that Rin, beyond all logic, had been messing up – and they’ve been piped in meticulous, beautiful rosettes.

The cake layers have been tinted just so they’re stacked from light purple to dark purple, and they’re topped with purple fondant butterflies – it’s just.

The beauty.

It astounds me.

…and also relegates my thinking to forming nothing but incoherent three-word sentences, apparently.

“Sorry we didn’t invite you for a sleepover yesterday, Rei, but Nagisa’s gag orders were very scary and very specific.” Makoto- _senpai_ says, chuckling softly as he lights the candles. “Shouldn’t we be singing him a song?”

“You go first, Mako.” Rin says, hands crossed over his chest. “I’m not singing.”

“Aww, but big brother, isn’t singing the birthday song always your favourite part of birthdays?”

“Yours, maybe, when we’re at home and it’s only me, you, and mum. Around _these_ jokers, however…”

“Don’t listen to him, Kou,” Haruka- _senpai_ says, effectively talking over Rin. “It’s just that your brother sings horribly. It’s a blessing he doesn’t make us listen to him.”

“Tsch – like you’re any better!” Rin says, affronted. “Fine. I’ll sing Speedo Glasses a birthday song so great that he will _cry_ and you will grovel in shame, asking me to forget that you even thought of saying that.”

“Don’t make the birthday boy cry, Rin-chan!” Nagisa says, nuzzling closer into my side like an overly-attached kitten. Now I see why Makoto- _senpai_ got to be fond of kittens – when they’re this close to you, and this adorable, it’s pretty hard not to be. I think my heart is about to burst at any moment. “But let’s all sing now, okay? Ready, one, two –”

So they do. It’s not a particularly well-made chorus – Gou and Makoto- _senpai_ are fine and smiling, but Nagisa’s singing too loudly, and Rin and Haruka- _senpai_ are aggressively singing over each other – but Rin’s earlier words did come true, and I can’t help myself. I burst into tears.

Not a beautiful look on me.

“Aww, Rei-chan,” Nagisa says, pressing a handkerchief to my face. “Why are you crying?”

“It’s just – it’s just that –” I start, and pause. Right now, it feels as if all the words I want to say, and some other embarrassing words I _don’t_ want to say, are just raring to just be said and be set free. “– this, all this, parties, surprises, _friends_ , _no one’s ever done this for me before_.”

_No one’s ever been here for me, before._

_No one’s ever been there to rejoice over me being born, before._

_Everyone else had always been too busy – way too busy – to care._

“Well, we’re here now, aren’t we?” Makoto- _senpai_ says, smiling.

“… _unfortunately_.” Rin mumbles. Haruka- _senpai_  frowns, and elbows him rather spectacularly. Rin sputters.

“Yeah, and we’re _really_ sorry we were sixteen years too late.” Nagisa says, smiling up at me, still patting away the traitorous tears. “But we're here now, and we’ll always be here, when you need us. And even when you don’t!”

“Don’t worry, Rei-kun.” Gou says, smile blinding and one arm raised. “I’ve half a mind to put these guys in their place if they ever give you any grief, so don’t worry!”

“You don’t have to be alone anymore, Rei,” Haruka- _senpai_ says, and just like that, just like that, I begin sobbing again.

Because that’s all I really worried about, since this whole joining-the-Swim-Club business started – how long would it be, before they realize how much I didn’t belong here, and throw me out just like everyone else ever did? But they didn’t, they reconciled with Rin and…and I’m _still_ here, still considered a part of them, and even Rin _himself_ is here, mumbling things like “It’s a good thing Speedo’s here, I was worried I was gonna be the only sane man left”, and they’re my friends and it’s okay. Everything’s okay, and it’s _beautiful_ and I really should stop crying.

Makoto- _senpai_ smiles at me, gestures toward the lighted candles. “Make a wish, Rei.”

Everyone looks at me with bated breath as I let Nagisa wipe away the last of the tears, look at them all, and close my eyes, clasping my hands together.

_You’re here. You’re **all** here._

_Guess my wish finally became true_.

I open my eyes, and somehow or other get myself in the middle of a very spontaneous, very exuberant, group hug. We’re all in an unsightly pile in the middle of Haruka- _senpai_ ’s tatami mats. We’re all laughing.

Here’s to another year with these people – these people who I can be proud to call my friends.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday, Rei! You're my favourite swimmer boy and, as I share some of your traits, a massive source of inspiration to me.
> 
> [Here's the cake recipe, by the way.](http://www.glorioustreats.com/2012/05/purple-ombre-mini-cakes.html) Very Rei-like, isn't it? I felt really uncreative today, title-wise, so I just named the fic after the recipe that inspired it.
> 
> A little baking note - one has to dry the fondant butterflies for 12-24 hours before using, so please assume that someone else (probably Haru?) already had done the butterflies beforehand, and they had just made Rei do some extra butterflies more to...keep him busy, idk.
> 
> Yes, I am aware that 11/17/2013 was a Sunday. Let's imagine Iwatobi had special Sunday classes that week, hmm? It slipped my mind that Mako's day was on a weekend because...well, first and foremost, I myself had classes on that day.
> 
> Most of Rei's inner thoughts are actually shadows of my own - I'm not used to having friends, so when I do have them, I keep living in fear that they'll remember not liking me and leave me to fend for myself, for that's what I've always experienced. So when they don't...it's an epiphany, to say the least.
> 
> Also: if KyoAni doesn't release official birthday messages for Rei's birthday, I just might throw a fit. It won't be pretty.
> 
> Thanks for reading this!


End file.
